Crazy Halloween Candy in a Bowl – Recipe inspired by Domenica Tartufo

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First, let me be honest, when I say inspired here, I mean very loosely inspired. The Domenica was a lovely restaurant I recently met several bloggers when I went to the Produce Marketing Tradeshow in New Orleans. I love New Orleans, I really do. You can’t get a bad meal in New Orleans, but I had a dessert I didn’t understand. Here is my personal recipe, for a loosely inspired recipe. Please, if you are a fan, don’t beat me up 😉 I love gourmet food. Scratch that. I love food. I love learning about it, cooking it, sharing it with people, and then talking about it. Yep. That’s me. A restaurant doesn’t need to be fancy, it just needs to be good. What is good? I know, it is all relative. I love tacos from a hole in the wall places, dumplings sold from a street cart, a burger from a food truck, or a high end 7 course dinner, they all have their places.

I dislike very few things. I dislike green bell peppers, I would love to simply flick them off my plate than eat them. I dislike jello. I pick out raisins whenever I can. I also dislike malted milk balls. While this Tartufo did not have the first three, it had the last one. I am also not a big fan of sweet desserts. I would rather have a cheese plate. So let me say, a few nice things about this place, and give the dessert a few comments that I liked. Then comes my crazed interpretation.

Domenica is a John Besh restaurant. I have been to a few, he has lovely restaurants. The service tends to be impeccable. Your every wish is granted. Our poor server this night, dealt with a table of foodies, and let me say, this woman is a saint. We ask lots of questions, we can fuss over our food, and cause someone to work very hard. We were well taken care of.

We had lovely appetizers, and my main course was heaven. It was simply pasta cooked in a butter garlic sauce with chanterelle mushrooms. The pasta was perfectly cooked, the mushrooms were done so well. It made me not miss the fact my dinner lacked any form of seafood. I had a bit of someone’s pizza. They serve pizzas that are cooked in wood burning ovens. The pizzas are amazing. Then came dessert.

To say I did not like this recipe is being kind. I never had a Tartufo before, but it is doubtful I will have one again. Let me say the candied orange that was part of this dessert was delightful. It made me wish that I would save orange peel more often. If I saved more orange peel, I too, could create some candied orange peel too, and this would make me happy. So the chocolate semifreddo I am certain it was good. The texture was lovely it was whipped perfectly full of air, and it was creamy. Unfortunately, it was covered with chocolate malted milk balls. Some of the malted milk balls were small ones, some were large ones, but the whole thing was covered with them.

What this dessert reminded me of, was Oreo cookie crumbs crushed up, there was a layer of what I think was the crumb topping you find in crumb cake, then a big ball of ice cream covered with malted milk balls and other bits of chocolate. It was insanely sweet. My first thought was you should never feed this to an 8 year old as they would convulse and shake uncontrollably by the time they finished this. I regretted not ordering a simple dish of ice cream, or really an after dinner drink.

I don’t understand why fancy restaurants can so often do so well in all courses but dessert. I once was given a plate that had some caramel corn, an orange slice, and cardamom cake, and some chocolate fudge. I wonderful if the pastry chef is playing a joke on people. I know, it is a first world problem to complain about food from a fancy place. I would go back here, I would skip dessert.

Now, for my loose interpretation, I made some candied orange peel. I crushed up some Oreo cookies. I put a scoop of Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Brownie Ice Cream, and then topped it with malted milk balls, bite sized pieces of Kit Kat’s, and bite sized pieces of Reese’s Pieces, and topped it with some candied orange peel. I don’t have a name for this recipe, but I hope you can enjoy either my experience or by tossing some chocolate candy onto your favorite chocolate ice cream knowing you have had something similar to what is served in a fancy restaurant.

The ironic part of this story is I had to photograph this dessert a couple of times because I forgot about the candied orange, and ice cream melts very quickly.

Instructions

Prepare orange peel a day ahead.

Carefully remove peel from oranges in large strips. Cut orange peel into small strips. Place orange peels into a small pot and cover orange peel with water. Bring to a boil, and toss out water. Do this two more times. This will help remove any bitterness in the pith of the orange. In a small pot place 1 1/2 cups of water and 1 cup of sugar, bring to a boil. Allow the syrup to thicken. Add orange peel to syrup and cook for about 10 minutes on low. Remove peel and then allow to dry on a cookie sheet.

To prepare dessert:

Remove the centers of two Oreo cookies. Crush cookies, and place the crumbs in the bottom of a bowl. Add a scoop of ice cream to the bowl, top with malted milk balls and remaining chocolate candies. Top with 3 or 4 strips of candied orange and serve immediately.

Save left over candied orange in an air tight container. The candied orange will last for a couple of weeks.

About Stephanie

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

Welcome to CopyKat Recipes

CopyKat.com is the creation of Stephanie Manley. Stephanie started publishing recipes on the web in 1995 as a means to capture her family recipes in a format that they would not be thrown away. Over the years she has developed many recipes that taste just like restaurant recipes. read more

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Dining Out at Home Cookbook 2

Recipes for the Most Delicious Dishes from America's Most Popular Restaurants

I’d definitely recommend adding Dining Out at Home to your collection. It’s a great way to add some variety into your meals at home and give you the feeling of dining out even when you stay in. FrugalNovice